Yesterday I was sitting in my office when I heard the most blood curdling scream coming from my 2 year old.  It’s the kind of scream that make you sure you’ll be heading to the emergency room in about 5 minutes.  I was certain he’d fallen and broken a bone or cut off a finger by the sound of it.  I ran over there, prepared for the sight of bones sticking out of his skin or major amounts of blood…but couldn’t immediately figure out what was wrong.  He was standing up, not bleeding, not hurt in an obvious way.  So why in the aitch ee double hockey sticks was he screaming like that???

I asked him what was wrong and, still screaming, he says “I cared a piter!”  Usually I’m pretty good at deciphering his 2 year old speak.  But this one was baffling.  I’m checking him over for injury and finding nothing, so I ask again.  “I cared a piter!”  And he points.  This time it dawns on me…”I’m scared of the spider.”

Only it wasn’t a spider.  It was an ant. (We’ve been battling them for a few days now.)  And apparently it had crawled on his arm when he was laying in the floor playing.  I squished it, but he continued to cry for quite a while in my lap.  He’s freaked out over spiders before, but not to this degree.  I’m not sure where he’s getting it and I really hope he outgrows it, because that scream took a few years off my life!

Filed under: Parenting